Specialized Consumer Services

Shares of Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR) are up nearly 9% in early trading after being upgraded by Brigantine from Hold to Buy. Yesterday, Coinstar released strong financial results and Coinstar's Redbox DVD rental service reached a deal with the Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) movie studio Warner Bros...

Certain stocks are off to an excellent start this morning. Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA) is up nearly 7%. It is largely up due to its addition to the S&P 500. Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) is up nearly 7% as well, due to its earnings release. Deere and Company (NYSE: DE) is up 7.5% on...

The Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) movie studio Warner Bros. has reached a deal with DVD rental service Redbox, owned by Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR), to wait until 28 days after new DVD titles are released to begin renting them to customers. The deal is similar to the one that Warner Bros. reached...

Medifast (NYSE: MED) is up 5% after The Fraud Discovery Institute Inc. (FDI) ended its investigation into Medifast Inc. The company also made it clear that it does not have, nor has it ever had, any affiliation with the law firm of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine since FDI began investigating publicly...

Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) was downgraded at Brigantine today from a Buy to a Hold. After rallying yesterday, the stock has given back 5.41% and is currently trading at $26.42. On the day, 2.25 million shares have been exchanged versus a daily average volume of 710,000. Coinstar reported...

Micromet, Inc (NASDAQ: MITI) was downgraded by RBC Capital Markets from “outperform” to “sector perform.” MITI’s shares have slipped 3.68% to $7.85 by 10:16 am. Micromet has a 52-week trading range of $2.25-$8.48. RBC Capital Markets downgraded ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) from “outperform” to “...

After hours traders are beating up on a number of names that reported earnings today. In addition to Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) and Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD), Coinstar, Inc (NASDAQ: CSTR) is falling in the late trading session. The shares have lost nearly 5% to $26.55. Coinstar (CSTR) posted Q4...

Below are the top 5 services stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ in terms of dividend yield. The dividend yield at Capital Product Partners LP (NASDAQ: CPLP) is 19.2%. CPLP’s shares have slipped by 8.07% over the past 52 weeks, as compared to a 28.11% rise in S&P500. The dividend yield at Stonemor...

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (NYSE: JTX) has been in a free fall all morning with the stock currently down over 19% to $2.84. The tax services company is reporting “…it does not anticipate securing a pact to cover the remaining 50% of its refund-anticipation loan program for the 2010 tax season.”...

Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS) registered a profit in Q2, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Regis Corporation beat analysts’ estimate as it registered a profit of $18.2 million for the quarter ended December 31 as against a loss of $143.3 million for the same period last year. The...

WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) today reported a fourth-quarter net income of $2.7 billion, or $5.96 per share, as compared to $331.4 million, or $0.65 per share, for the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income was $1.16 a share. Analysts had expected WellPoint to report earnings of $1.02 per share...

Stephens upgraded H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) from “equal weight” to “overweight.” Stephens believes that HRB is well positioned to capitalize on the issues faced by Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) and expand its market share. HRB’s share price has risen by 2.42% to $22.81. Over the past 52 weeks, HRB’s...

With the major indices ticking slightly higher Wednesday, there were many stocks which broke out to the upside on BIG volume. If this is your first time reading one of my breakout reports you'll want to read the section below, however if you are familiar with my daily breakout report you should...

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX) stock is down 13.51% from its closing price of $4.44 yesterday. The stock hit a low of $3.63 today and was trading at $3.84 at last check. The stock price of Jackson Hewitt plunged after the company said that it lacks financing for about half its refund -...